November 15: Today’s Wrestler Birthdays & Deaths

BIRTHDAYS

Randy Savage would have turned 66 today. He was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a catcher out of high school. He was placed in the minor leagues to develop, where he mostly played as an outfielder in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox farm systems. Savage would swing a bat into a hanging car tire as a regular training exercise in order to strengthen his hands and make sure he utilized his legs during swings. The technique was so effective that his roommate Larry Herndon adopted it and used it during his own career as a baseball coach. Savage injured his natural (right) throwing shoulder after a collision at home plate, and he learned to throw with his left arm instead. Savage’s last season was 1974, when he played for the Tampa Tarpons. He played 289 games in four minor league seasons, batting .254 with 16 home runs and 66 RBI.

Savage first broke into the wrestling business in 1973 during the fall and winter of the baseball off season. His first wrestling character, The Spider, was similar to Spider-Man. He later took the ring name Randy Savage at the suggestion of his longtime friend and trainer Terry “The Goose” Stephens and GCW booker Ole Anderson, who said that the name Poffo did not fit someone who “wrestled like a savage”. The “Macho Man” nickname was adopted after his mother read a Reader’s Digest article predicting that the phrase would become “the next hot term”. Savage eventually decided to end his baseball career and become a full-time wrestler, working with his brother and father. The rest, as they say, is history. Here’s his list of WWF and WCW accolades:

2x WWF World Heavyweight ChampionIntercontinental Champion1987 King of the Ring4x WCW World Heavyweight ChampionWWE Hall of Fame Class of 2015

Happy birthday Randy.

Tegan Noxis 24 today. “The girl with the shiniest wizard” made her pro wrestling debut in 2014 for Attack! Pro Wrestling. She also wrestled for Fight Club: Pro, Progress Wrestling, Shimmer Women Athletes, What Culture Pro Wrestling, and World Wonder Ring Stardom before signing with WWE in 2017. She was supposed to compete in the 2017 Mae Young Classic but tore her ACL before the tournament began. She returned in 2018 and this time did compete in the Mae Young Classic, but she tore her knee to shreds in the quarterfinals against Rhea Ripley. She’ll be back better than ever. Happy birthday Tegan.

DEATHS

Gran Markus began his career in Mexico in 1968. He spent much of his career there but did wrestle quite a few match for World Class Championship Wrestling in the United States. He took on the likes of André the Giant, Don Muraco, Angelo Mosca, Roddy Piper, Blackjack Lanza, Fritz Fon Erich, Doug Gilbert, King Kong Bundy, Michael Hayes, and José Lothario, who was his long-time rival and sometimes tag team partner. He died of heart failure on November 15, 2007. He was 68.